Two weeks ago while on a walk-through of the brand-spanking-new, $65 million SFJazz Center, trustee Robert Mailer Anderson heard music played from high-tech speakers for the first time and wept.

"It is humbling to think we are going to have this amazing venue, with Charles Phan's restaurant, and all the musicians who will play here, and all the fans and players that will listen and take in those sounds and that feeling and that community into their lives and their work," he e-mailed. "It feels fantastic and hopeful."

The good news? This inaugural concert has raised more than $1.5 million for SFJazz, the largest-ever fundraiser for this organization founded 30 years ago by SFJazz Artistic Director Randall Kline.

And when the center officially opens on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, music lovers of all stripes are welcome to a free open house Jan. 21, followed by a week of special concerts for which tickets still remain.

"Our new building is an extension of the street and as inviting as San Francisco itself," Anderson noted. "Like jazz, it feels bigger on the inside than on the outside."

SFJazz board members personally dug deep to help raise $58 million for this realization of the nation's only stand-alone jazz center. Headline concerts will be held in the music auditorium named for Robert Miner, the late Oracle co-founder and father of Anderson's wife, Nicola Miner. And her husband is itching for the bebop to begin.

"Seeing the amazing lineup of musicians for our first season, and simultaneously watching the news, it has become clear to me that the SFJazz Center is a hard-fought and inevitable progression for art and democracy in America - part of the healing and growth that comes from 100 years of listening to a music born from equal parts sorrow, joy and intelligence," he said. "The SFJazz Center is simply our future, and it is going to swing!"

Mayan MTT: While the world braced itself Dec. 21 for the Mayan-calendar-predicted apocalypse, S.F. Symphony maestro Michael Tilson Thomasboldly celebrated his 68th birthday that same date with friends at Tosca Cafe.

"It's not often the end of the world coincides with your birthday," he announced with a laugh as he stood atop a chair amid a sea of fans. "Although some birthdays do feel that way."

As the maestro cut into his clever Mayan calendar-theme cake (created by Susie Cakes), the 29th Street Swingtet swung the groove, followed by a serenade by soprano Lisa Vroman of "Symphony Cowgirl," a song written by Thomas in honor of former Symphony president Nancy Bechtle.

Back atop that bar chair, the birthday boy shared lyrics from one of his self-penned songs. And everyone cheered as MTT banished any Mayan doom with his opening line: "I made a bunch of wishes and they all came true."